So, here’s a fun little story for you. Today’s write-up was set to be a part of Decemystery 2022 before all of that fun stuff with brain fog happened. I then had it lined up for last year’s duology and got very close to beginning work on it. However, if memory serves, I figured it’d be way too much work, so I decided to forego it.
Now, it’s October. I’ve been slowly progressing through these write-ups—by which I mean that I still have 24 of them to go (counting this one). I’m looking at my schedule and notice that today’s story is one of the five “purge survivors.” If you don’t know what those are, I scrapped Decemystery 2024’s original schedule, though five stories survived. Why did that happen?
Brain fog. Again.
Anyway, seeing this story’s name made me wince a bit. The momentum I’d built up from the previous two write-ups was something I’d hoped I could hold onto; they were brisk and easy to cover. This one’s almost certainly not going to be either of those things due to the websites we’ll be visiting.
For a brief moment, as I sat on my bed, I considered delaying this story for the third year in a row. Not only would it save me a lot of time, but it would take some stress off my back. However, I knew if I did that, it would only prolong the inevitable (which would be a full-blown delay into next year). So, ultimately, I opted against that. I didn’t want this to become another version of Julia or Shades of Death Road (both of which have been on my to-do list since 2019).
However, that’s not the only reason I didn’t want to push this story into next year. Personally, I believe this to be one of the strangest and creepiest supposed firsthand accounts with the Fortean one can find online. So, I think it’s about time we finally look over the story of The Man From the Box. Come along, dear reader; let’s take a look at a case that’s been collecting dust in the recesses of my archive of mysteries!
What’s in the Box?
I originally found this story on sustained_disgust’s Obscure Mysteries Iceberg, which you may be familiar with since I covered a plethora of stories featured on it last year. We’ll be revisiting it a bit this month, but nowhere near as much. There are other sources for strange tales out there!
Anyway, the link on the iceberg leads to the Fortean Forums. For reasons that still remain a mystery to me, I’m still IP-banned from that site. This doesn’t impede my ability to write about the story since I can turn the Wi-Fi on my phone off to browse it, but I’d still love to know how I got an IP ban from a site that I never had an account for.
Oh well, whatever. The aforementioned link leads to a post made on November 7, 2017, from a user named Ginoide. However, they weren’t the person who had the dubious honor of seeing the “Man From the Box.” No, that goes to a Redditor whose account has since been deleted. I tried to find an archive to see what their account name was, but I had no such luck. For the sake of simplicity, though, I’ll refer to the Redditor as Vince.
On July 8, 2015, Vince posted his experience (which you can’t view anymore because of his account being deleted) in an Ask Reddit thread that asked Redditors what the scariest thing that’s ever happened to them was. In Vince’s case, it was something they had shared “a few times.” He noted that the story may look familiar, so I guess he’d shared it in other Ask Reddit threads. If that’s the case, this story may be a lot more well-known than I initially thought.
I digress, though. Vince began by saying that when he was sixteen, he’d go out into his backyard to jump on his trampoline. Vince would do this for hours on end each night, all while listening to his iPod and daydreaming. He said that it was “to get away from a rough family life,” which is genuinely disheartening to read.
On a less somber note, there was one night when Vince saw a kid (he doesn’t specify how old the child looked) dart past his house’s fence at “full speed.” This speedy little tyke was “carrying a box” that was “about the size and shape of a skateboard.”
Indeed, the child wasn’t running from someone. Rather, he was making haste so he could deliver a box to its destination. I guess he was paying ransom in lunch money so he could get his G.I. Joe action figures back from the school bullies.
At least, that was my guess until I read the follow-up sentence. According to Vince, this kid ran into the park behind his home. He then held the box “by the edge,” throwing it into the air. It proceeded to flip a few times “before landing on the ground.” After that, the kid stood over the box and looked at it.
Unsurprisingly, this peculiar behavior unnerved Vince. Personally, I’d argue that children are prone to being amused by little things. I remember loving to toss objects into the air. Heck, I still do. It’s fun seeing how high they’ll go.
I digress, though. After gawking at the box for an unspecified amount of time, the child suddenly ran back the way he came. As he fled the park, he never acknowledged Vince’s presence, nor did he take the box with him. All told, this child hastily arrived, threw it in the air, looked at it, and then ran away.
Finding the child’s behavior odd, Vince made the totally sensible decision (that’s a lie) to continue jumping while looking at where the box rested. Eventually (as you can tell, Vince doesn’t estimate how long anything lasted), things got weird—and I swear that everything I’m about to type isn’t the product of my own creation.
According to Vince, the box appeared to move. After a bit, a figure “started to rise out of it.” This caused Vince to cease jumping and rub his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. But, as clear as the sky is blue, there was something (trust me, it’s something and not someone) that resembled a fully-grown man rising out of a box that was 2 inches (5 centimeters) thick. I think my brain just seeped out of my ears trying to imagine how on Earth this thing could fit in there, but more on that when we get to the theories.
Also, no, I didn’t gloss over how tall this thing was; Vince didn’t include an estimated height. Given he said it was the size of a fully grown man, though, I think we can safely guess it was around 6 feet tall (182 centimeters).
Anyway, this man “had an elongated head with no hair.” He sported orange skin, along with large, black eyes. I want everyone reading this right now to know that I, in no uncertain terms, have no idea as to what on God’s green Earth this thing was. I’ve covered numerous things on this blog, but this is one for the record books. And yet, somehow, we haven’t gotten to the strangest part of this story yet.
After rising out of the box, the enigmatic figure “raised one up to his side.” This caused his compartment-sized home to go into what Vince believed to be a trench coat. Given Vince’s uncertainty, I have to wonder if he initially thought the man absorbed the box. That’s the only thing I can think of, honestly.
Moving on from that bit of strangeness, we reach what is easily the most incomprehensibly bizarre part of this entire story. According to Vince, the man “walked over to the only pavilion” in the park. He then “grabbed a metal beam” that held up an overhang and proceeded to slam his head against it repeatedly. No, I did not make that up. If you do, here’s what Vince wrote:
He [the Man From the Box] walked over to the only pavilion we have at the small park, grabbed the metal beam holding up the overhang and started to bang his head hard onto the beam over and over.
I cannot stress enough the sheer, unparalleled confusion this causes me. I’ve read and heard countless weird stories in my 28 years on this wonderful planet, but few leave me as utterly dumbstruck as this one sentence does. It may not sound strange, as people often say they want to bang their head against something when frustrated, but let me remind you that this thing rose out of a box that was 2 inches thick. Never mind the orange skin; it can apparently shrink itself like it’s a Pokémon—and now it’s bashing its head against a metal bar for some inexplicable reason.
I’m not sure where my fear ends and my confusion begins. The lines have been blurred so much that they feel like they’re one and the same.
Okay, let’s get back on track (the tangents can wait). Once more, Vince rubbed his eyes, yet the headbanging man from the 2-inch-thick box was still headbanging to his heart’s content. Also, despite being capable of rubbing his eyes, Vince also said that he was unable to move. I know what he meant (he couldn’t get himself to run away), but the wording there is so contradictory that it strikes me as funny.
Despite Vince’s attempt to clear his eyes of “seeing a fully-grown man from a tiny box” dust, the strange man remained. He was as real as the screen you’re reading these words on—and Vince was about to learn that in more ways than one.
For whatever reason, the man suddenly stopped slamming his head against a metal bar and turned to look at Vince. Here’s what he had to say:
It was like he could feel me watching him.
Typically, when someone spots someone watching them, their reaction is one of concern or curiosity. However, the Man From the Box felt neither. Instead, he was amused. How do I know that? Well, Vince said that a “giant smile” formed on his face. Maybe it’s because another Redditor mentioned it, but the first thing that comes to mind when I try to envision this bizarre thing masquerading as a human is Indrid Cold. If you don’t know who he is, you may know him as “The Grinning Man,” a famous figure in UFO lore. More on him in the theories; I don’t want to derail this story too much.
Now sporting an enormous smile, the man proceeded to stare at Vince. Then, he “tilted his head back and forth a few times.” This has to be one of the creepiest actions I can think of, especially with the freakish appearance the man sported. It’s also something I recall hearing in a story from 4chan, only the figure there tilted its head from side to side.
On a more interesting note, it’s only now that Vince mentions he was afraid of what he was seeing, saying he “had goosebumps” and that his “eyes started to tear up.” He also noted that even recounting his experience made his “hair stand on edge” due to the look the man gave him.
The reason I find this interesting is because the man emerged from a box that was described as being the size of a skateboard. It was 2 inches thick. I understand that Vince was likely in shock, but the fact he never specified that in his post is bewildering. It makes me imagine he was standing on his trampoline, staring with a neutral expression on his face, while this bald-headed, orange-skinned, black-eyed monstrosity rose out of a box and proceeded to slam a metal bar against his head.
In short, detail is important, and Vince has the world’s greatest poker face.
Anyway, Vince said that he “was about to start crying,” when the man turned away from him and “kind of phased down the road off into the distance.” This, on its own, wouldn’t be that hard to envision (I imagine that it phased out of reality), but Vince described it in a way that managed to make such a simple act sound a dozen times stranger than it had any right to be. In his own words:
Phase like those units the Protoss have in Starcraft that leave a “trail” of themselves for a short period of time if that helps to explain it.
Starcraft is the only franchise Blizzard’s made that I’ve never played. I’m an avid World of Warcraft player, and I adore Diablo, but I’ve never touched Starcraft. I can vaguely imagine what Vince was trying to convey here; he likely meant that the man left behind images of himself that grew fainter and fainter each time one appeared. However, I could be wrong since I don’t know what Protoss unit Vince was referring to (one user mentioned the “High Templar,” though, so maybe that’s the one). I don’t even know what a Protoss is. Is that what you call someone who’s a pro at tossing stuff?
Whatever; I digress. Once the man was gone, Vince ran inside, bawling his eyes out, and called his best friend to tell them about what they’d just seen. This friend reassured Vince that he was “seeing things” and that he “needed to calm down,” which Vince presumably did because he was able to continue living life.
And with that, Vince’s story comes to an end. Aside from remaining adamant that he knows what he saw that night, Vince said he never saw the man again. Whether or not he saw that strange child is unclear—something that I find incredibly bizarre, given I think it’s worth notifying the police about. Children aren’t usually out at a park that late without adult supervision.
Oh well, I think it’s safe to say that calling this story bewildering would be a colossal understatement. There’s so much that makes it sound closer to a fever dream than any sort of humanoid sighting. That, or a surrealist art project trying to convey something that went so far over my head, NASA’s tracking its trajectory to see if it’ll slam into Jupiter.
To make things even more frustrating, I don’t even know when or where this occurred. The most I can do is narrow down the latter to the 21st century, thanks to the mention of the iPod, which was first released on October 23, 2001. However, that still leaves over a decade of candidates for when this happened.
That said, I did decide to look at the replies. Now, I won’t go through every single one like I did with the Nickelodeon Hamster Wheel Broadcast at the start of the month. There’s absolutely no way I’m doing another 30,000+ word write-up, especially when I still have over half of these to do. Nevertheless, the theories demand we see what Vince’s fellow Redditors had to say. So, without ado, let’s dive in!
The Replies
The majority of replies amount to people telling Vince that his story was terrifying, disturbing, or some other synonym of the word “scary.” However, as you may be able to surmise, a few stick out.
The first is from a user named “not_your_uncle.” According to Uncle (as I shall call him in an act of defiance against his name), he said that each time Vince posted his story, he’d “read it in its entirety and upvote it.” This is despite Uncle finding the story “completely unbelievable.” Why would he do this? Well, apparently, Uncle felt it triggered “some latent, similar memory” of his own.
Uncle wasn’t the only person to have this feeling. Another user named “illBoopYaHead” responded, saying that the story was “triggering something” in their head, too, like “something similar [or] unbelievable” had happened to them. Boop (as I shall call them) likened it to “a memory of a memory” of them believing that nobody would believe them if they spoke about whatever they saw.
Further compounding this, Boop added that writing the reply while trying to remember what had happened caused them to tear up. This was peculiar as they “very rarely cry,” and even then, it’d never occurred while typing a response.
Boop’s comment got a response from Vince, but as I said earlier, his account’s been deleted, and I don’t know what Vince had to say. What I do know is that Boop conceded that they might’ve mistaken what they thought was a similar sighting for a nightmare.
As for Uncle, he responded to Boop, saying that the whole “memory of a memory” idea aligned with how he felt. A memory of a memory, huh? If I didn’t know any better, I’d assume Uncle and Boop were channeling their inner Christopher Nolan because that sounds like the plot to a sequel for either Inception or Tenet.
While these two replies may seem innocuous, if not outright pointless, they’ll be relevant for a theory later. They also feature one other user who points out their own supposed experience with “The Man.” No, not the Aloe Blacc song that I absolutely adore. We’re still dealing with the Man from the Box—kind of.
A user named “HistrionicSlut,” who I’ll refer to as Marcy, responded to Uncle by urging him to try and remember his experience. Apparently, Marcy had seen an odd man herself, and she wanted to know if Uncle had seen the same one she did.
Now, Marcy’s story is long—way too long for me to go over. If you want to read it for yourself, here’s the comment thread. However, the gist of it is that Marcy saw a figure with “reddish skin, black eyes, [and a] black trench coat.” In a later reply, Marcy likened him to the Star Wars villain Darth Maul, except for “the weird face pattern.” She also said that seeing him meant someone she knew was going to die soon. As a result, she believed this figure to be a bad omen.
I’ll likely one day cover Marcy’s story on its own. As it stands, though, I don’t want this write-up to be derailed by something with virtually no relation to the current write-up. That said, at least one user suspected her case to be the result of sleep paralysis. Then again, there’s the matter of another user in the thread chiming in to say that they’d seen something similar, so it’s two eyewitnesses against one random guy with a blog. My odds aren’t looking so great, and besides, who am I to argue with the eyewitness? I didn’t see the dang thing.
Those are the only replies worth mentioning; the rest are of no merit for this write-up—barring a few that put forward some theories. However, those will only be relevant in the theories section.
So, where does that leave us? Well, there was another post on the Fortean Forums that linked a post from the Humanoid Encounters subreddit. It was made on November 7, 2017 (the same day as the original Fortean Forums post) and linked to Vince’s story).
According to the Fortean Forum user, Vince was holding an “Ask Me Anything” (or AMA). However, given that his account has been deleted, I can’t share that supposed AMA with you all. This annoys and disappoints me oh so much because it means the story is effectively over. Sure, I’m glad that I have less work to do, but given this story’s outlandish nature, it would’ve been nice to have some additional context.
At the same time, the thread is so barebones that it’s hard to really call what was linked an AMA. The post wasn’t made by Vince, and I don’t think he replied to many people. I looked up “AMA” on the Subreddit, and while there were some that apparently happened, I can’t find any that featured Vince. There are some that sound interesting, though.
If the AMA did happen, I’m sure there’s an archive out there somewhere—maybe via the Wayback Machine or in a screenshot folder of someone who shared it on 4chan—but I don’t know. If you guys were hoping for more before the theories, then I’m sorry if I let you down. I’ll try my damndest to make up for it if I ever decide to take a second look at this case (which is very likely, honestly).
Anyway, with that, Vince’s incredible story of the Man From the Box comes to an end. As you can tell by my commentary throughout the write-up, this is an absolutely mind-bending tale—and quite an unsettling one, in my opinion. I’ve read and heard so much in my life when it comes to the paranormal and supernatural, but this feels like the Fortean equivalent of something that’s avant-garde.
Despite that avant-garde nature, though, there are still a plethora of theories for us to go over, and they’re going to be taking us to an array of places; this story’s roots are in so many places that we’re going to be here for a while. But, to start the theories off, I want to zero in on a certain someone—someone who I’ve not discussed in nearly half a decade. So, come along, dear reader; let’s take a gander at the theories and see what they’ve got to offer us!
Theories
1. Indrid Cold
Good old Indrid Cold. Boy, I haven’t talked about you since earlier in the write-up. Prior to that, though, I hadn’t brought you up since 2020. Back then, my writing style was not only considerably more amateurish, but you were someone who I had hoped to cover one day. That desire still remains a bit, but you’ve been talked about so much that I worry there’s little I can add that’d make me stand out in a sea of voices.
To echo what I said earlier: If the name “Indrid Cold” doesn’t sound familiar, you may know him by his more colloquial name of “The Grinning Man.” Some also call him “The Smiling Man,” but I think that’s an entirely different story; one from Reddit about someone who went for a walk and encountered an odd man who kept creepily smiling before rushing them. It’ll get its own write-up one day. For now, though, let’s focus on Indrid.
If neither of the names I listed rings a bell, there are a bunch of sketches that’ve been associated with Indrid. Take a look at one of the more popular ones; maybe you’ll recognize it.
Anyway, if you’re unfamiliar with Indrid Cold, he was a strange human—or humanoid—seen in various parts of the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. He was described as being around 6 feet tall (182 centimeters) and was dressed in a similar fashion to the infamous Men in Black. The one difference is that Indrid had a massive grin on his face, a stark contrast to the MiB, who have much emotional range as a blank canvas.
On his own, Indrid Cold would’ve likely gone down as another piece of UFO lore that was occasionally brought up when UFOlogists discuss strange occurrences from the mid-20th century. However, Indrid would find himself catapulted into the mainstream when John Keel’s 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies was adapted into a film in 2002. This led to Indrid becoming all but tied at the hip to Point Pleasant’s iconic cryptid.
That’s the gist of Indrid’s story. There’s a lot more to it; people claim they’ve still seen him (or entities like him). Some even say they’ve even communicated with Indrid, though Indrid’s apparently a telepath (and an alien—by his own admission). Regardless, this makes him one of the only Fortean beings I can name off the top of my head who’s ever spoken to Earthlings.
With that in mind, let’s pivot to the theory. Given that people claim to have encountered Indrid Cold to this day, one Redditor pondered if Vince had an encounter with him—or something like him. It makes some sense; the enormous grin, dark attire, and eerie appearance evoke the image of Indrid. Heck, in one sighting, Indrid lacked a nose, ears, and hair. While Vince didn’t state if the Man From the Box sported the first two, the lack of hair aligns with him.
However, there are two sides to every theory, and this one has a few issues. The first is that Indrid’s all but agreed to have been an extraterrestrial. While there are some who believe he was a part of the aforementioned Men in Black, most UFO enthusiasts will tell you that Indrid Cold was an alien, not a humanoid who resided in a small box.
Additionally, later reports claimed that Indrid had hair and tanned skin, with some saying that Indrid appeared human. While Vince’s sighting may be known as the “Man From the Box,” the figure sounded anything but human. After all, we’re talking about a man with orange skin who—once more—managed to fit inside a tiny box. I know, I’m repeating myself, but that bears repeating when it tears this theory apart six ways from Sunday.
Further compounding this are claims made by a man named Woodrow Derenberger, who said that Indrid Cold was accompanied by two men similar to him named Demo Hassan and Karl Ardo. As far as I know, neither man had overexaggerated grins. In fact, an alleged photo of Demo exists, and he looks as deadpan as a disapproving father. Take a gander.
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I guess his kid spilled juice on his suit.
Anyway, as a side note, Derenberger was the man who alleged that Indrid spoke to him telepathically. Indrid purportedly said he was from a planet called Lanulos, which is said to be 14.6 light years from Earth and allegedly resides in the Genemedes galaxy. No such galaxy exists, but you could argue that we know it by another name—and that their measurements are different.
Why is that relevant? Well, if that’s true, then the only way the man Vince saw could be Indrid is if his means of interstellar travel was a box. Call me crazy, but when I think of “advanced interstellar traveler,” I don’t think of traveling across the cosmos in a skateboard-sized cardboard box.
More importantly, though, it doesn’t align with the vehicle Derenberger saw when he encountered Indrid, which he said resembled a “kerosene lamp” (see below if you want to know what one looks like). It then drove around his truck, blocked the road, and floated 40 feet (12.1 meters) off the ground. If you want to read the full story of Woodrow’s absolutely mind-boggling encounter, you can do so on Paranormal People Online, which covers the case quite well.
Anyway, with that now said and done, I want to address why I went over Indrid Cold specifically. After all, only one Redditor brought him up. Well, it’s because of the reply that the user got. In many ways, I needed to psyche myself up for what came next. Come along, dear reader; let’s take a leap into the second theory—one that deals with a topic that I dread the day I cover in full.
2. A Man in Black
I have a love-hate relationship with the Men in Black. They were a fixation of mine as a child; I found them fascinating, and a part of me wished I could meet them. Yes, just like how I yearned to have a pet sabretoothed cat, I also wanted to meet people who would threaten not only my life but also the lives of those I loved. Nobody ever claimed I was a smart child.
However, now that I’m older and I write about these things, I find myself dreading the mere presence of their name in any given write-up. Their lore—if you wish to call it that—runs so deep that it causes me to shudder. There’s so much to go over that I wonder to myself how on Earth I’m meant to cover it without digressing too heavily. After all, the Men in Black aren’t some niche figures. They’re contenders for the most iconic piece of UFO lore thanks to the Men in Black film series.
I bring this up because the reply I mentioned before posited that the man Vince saw was a “very odd” member of the Men in Black. That’s some really ballsy wording on the part of “acmesrv” because that would imply there are MiB agents who aren’t “very odd.”
Allow me to elaborate a bit because this is the biggest issue with this theory. When I think of Men in Black, one of the first things that comes to mind is how they’re described as being anything but normal. They’re said to be robotic (having little to no emotion) and, in some cases, are amazed by some of the most basic things.
I recall a story where one MiB agent stared in fascination at a clickable pen. While I can’t remember the exact eyewitness, the person said the man kept clicking it, seemingly bewildered at the prospect of how it functioned. It remains one of the most unusual encounters with them that I’ve ever heard about. If someone can remember the person it happened to, I’d appreciate it because I can’t find it online.
There are a plethora of other weird stories related to the Men in Black, but that’s beside the point. So, what am I getting at? Well, most—if not all (I can’t say for certain because I don’t know every MiB encounter)—meetings with the MiB are in person, verbal, and are nothing like what Vince experienced. They’re also nothing like Indrid Cold, as stated earlier, and I will not hear otherwise. That is the hill I shall die upon.
It’s also worth noting that most Men in Black are known to show up in old, black cars—which most (if not all) who are visited by the MiB never seen arrive. They just pull up and do their insidious thing before departing without elaborating. Think of it as trick-or-treating, but there are no treats, and the trick is that you thought the knock at your door was going to be a pleasant one.
That said, I do think it’s worth noting that there’s one case that does defy the conventional norm of the Men in Black arriving in old-school cars. That case is from 1976 and centers on a man named Dr. Herbert Hopkins. This is a story that’s been on my to-do list for years now—at least three, but maybe longer. It’s hard to remember when I have a backlog of several thousand mysteries I’d love to cover.
I digress, though. I won’t get too deep into Herbert’s case because it’s a lengthy one, but I do want to address one thing. According to Herbert, he saw a “very bright blue light” flood the parking lot outside when the mysterious man left. This has led some to think it was the product of a spaceship the MiB arrived in taking off. I also believe there were scorch marks outside, but I can’t recall off the top of my head.
While you can say it’s an exception to the norm, you can also argue that this unorthodox method of transportation lends credence to the Man From the Box being one of the Men in Black. At the same time, you can also argue that a spaceship is a drastically more convenient method of transportation than something you’re more likely to use to store Christmas decorations. But, hey, who said extraterrestrials had to conform to what us Earthlings do?
Anyway, that ends our lesson on the Men in Black. While it may have been long, I believe it was necessary because I can’t remember the last time I ever gave a worthwhile explanation of them. It also demanded a bit of attention so I could properly set the stage for what we’re dealing with. So, with that out of the way, what does this theory really have going for it?
Honestly, not a whole lot.
While I try to be as unbiased as I can when it comes to the theories because I want them to remain as viable as possible, this is a theory that really struggles to find its footing. I don’t see anything going for it because everything about the Man From the Box doesn’t align with what I know about the Men in Black.
I will say that the bizarre appearance of the man Vince saw does align with some of the more enigmatic Men in Black that people claim they’ve met. The man who visited Herbert Hopskin wore lipstick to conceal the fact he lacked lips. No, I’m not joking; the site I hyperlinked above (Strange New England) states as much. The man also lacked eyebrows and eyelashes.
At the same time, I must concede that my knowledge of the Men in Black isn’t the greatest. I’m not some self-proclaimed maestro when it comes to the Fortean and unsolved. If anything, I’m learning just as much about these topics as you are when you read them; my prior knowledge extends to what I’ve read growing up and learned while listening to random stuff while I play video games (typically World of Warcraft, Pokémon, or Kingdom Hearts).
I also feel the need to concede that it’s possible my knowledge of the Men in Black extends beyond what I know. There could be a niche subsect that believes them to be some kind of interdimensional beings, so I could be completely missing something that’s causing me not to see the bigger picture here. If that’s the case, I’d appreciate any correction (or corrections) so I don’t succumb to the same mistake down the road. After all, fact-checking when you’re a one-man team who’s on the clock isn’t easy!
Overall, as it stands, I don’t think this theory has much merit. It’s not the most absurd theory we’ll be discussing, but it’s one that goes against everything I know about the Men in Black.
On top of that, there comes a point when the levels of oddness one associates with one thing make it incompatible with another thing, and this is a perfect example of that. The Men in Black are bizarre but in a way that feels more “down to Earth.” Meanwhile, the Man From the Box is closer to something you’d see out of a paranormal horror film like The Conjuring or The Grudge.
That said, the story of Dr. Herbert Hopkins does present a bit of precedent for a more outlandish perspective of the Men in Black. So, hey, maybe my stance will change when I get around to that story. God willing, I’ll get around to it next year because it puts this story to shame. No, that isn’t hyperbole. Until then, though, let’s move on to the next theory; it’s time we discuss a theory that’s considerably shorter (but will still make my brain hurt).
3. Some kind of spirit
Okay, as you may (or may not) know, I’m not the most well-educated person when it comes to the paranormal. I’ve said it before this month, but I felt the need to reinforce it here. After all, I don’t want someone citing me as the ultimate source of knowledge for anything and everything Fortean. One of my greatest fears is that someone will see me that way and cite me as a source when this is more of a casual, easygoing thing I enjoy doing (even if I devote large amounts of time to some of these write-ups).
With that said, this theory is a no-brainer. After all, the Man From the Box progressively vanished before Vince’s eyes. Sure, it physically interacted with the metal bar, but ghosts are known to physically move objects. Malevolent ones have been known to throw things in an attempt to harm people, too. It wouldn’t be too crazy to imagine that this man was some sort of spirit—even if it was somewhat unorthodox.
However, what kind of spirit was it? There are only two types of spirits I know of that are known to be housed in boxes. Those featured in the Ghostbusters films and the infamous Dybbuk Box, which was a hoax (though I know some people still present it as factual). I may take a gander at the latter one day, but only because the story’s a fascinating piece of paranormal lore.
On a more serious note, it’s worth noting that there are stories of spirits (benevolent and malevolent) being tied to objects. However, I don’t know if any of them are tied to boxes. Typically, the haunted items are pieces of jewelry, paintings, and knickknacks the person loved in life. I could do an entire list of purportedly haunted objects, but I digress. Let’s see how next year fares.
Because of the lack of box-related hauntings, I was left stumped. While there are stories of ghosts haunting forests, roads, and other outdoor areas, the Man From the Box is anything but a conventional haunting. Vince saw him once and, as far as I can tell, never experienced anything odd after his encounter. So, that begs the question, why is this even a theory?
Well, that’s simple: I saw a response made by a user named “atomic_bonanza” that sent me down a little rabbit hole. So, come along and allow me to take you through it.
Atomic (as I shall call them) said they’ve seen similar things to Vince’s experience, but they were “not exactly the same.” The idea that this story has some level of precedent makes my head spin, but I digress. Atomic added that “there is a prologue to this story” that we weren’t informed about.
So, what’s Atomic’s theory? Well, they posited it might’ve been “a Goetic working gone wrong.” I’m going to say upfront that I had no idea what the heck this was. I might’ve heard about it in the past and forgotten about it, but that’s beside the point. Before we continue, I think I should elaborate on what Atomic was talking about.
Through the power of the almighty search engine known as “Google,” I was able to learn that Goetia wasn’t some niche thing. The Wikipedia article for it is extensive, and it features a plethora of information about it. I recommend you read it if you’re into European mysticism and the like.
In the simplest terms possible, it’s witchcraft. Practitioners use symbols and other things to commune with spirits and ask for guidance or assistance to carry out tasks. So, it’s possible the Man From the Box was a benevolent being—despite his horrific appearance.
Now, why he opted to bash his head with a metal bar is beyond me. If anyone who’s more well-versed in this topic can explain it, I would greatly appreciate it. As it stands, I’m drawing a blank on why a spirit would resort to such an aggressive action. It seems like a peculiar move to make when you’re on the mortal plane.
That said, there is much, much more to Goetia that I glossed over; just like with the Men in Black, it demands its own write-up. However, I’m not willing to veer off course to cover something that I know nothing about. I’d rather have time to research it myself before I get in too deep. I know that I’ve said that a lot this month, and I sincerely apologize, but I hope you guys understand.
Anyway, Atomic went on to say that they thought the idea of it being a Goetic working that went awry was “a huge stretch,” but they reconsidered it. They theorized that it might’ve been an “edgy teenager” who decided to perform a magical ritual in an effort to make it look cool. I’ve heard countless stories like this, and it makes perfect sense. Teens are nothing if not prone to wanting to appear cool or exceptional, especially amongst their peers.
However, given teens are also reckless and prone to overestimating their capabilities, this particular fellow likely had no idea how to deal with the spirit they conjured up. As such, they sealed it away in a box they had (and likely used some sealing spell) before disposing of it at the park. Why they opted to throw it into the air is beyond me. My guess would be they wanted to make sure the box wouldn’t open easily.
Given that the wannabe mage ran away, one can assume they realized they either didn’t or felt the presence get angry at being thrown into the air. I can’t say I blame the Man From the Box. If I were him, I would’ve been furious if I were summoned, immediately sealed inside of a small box, and then thrown into the air like one of those vending machine bouncy balls you can get for 25¢ at a supermarket.
In the end, it didn’t even matter; the Man From the Box was released, headbanged to Cannibal Corpse, and then waltzed off. I hope he found his way back to wherever he came from because if I ever saw him on the side of the road, I’d probably scream.
Joking aside, this theory—from what little I can grasp—doesn’t sound that outlandish. While it sounds like a cheesy 1990s horror movie, I wouldn’t be surprised if a teenager thought they could go toe-to-toe with the supernatural in an effort to be the talk of their school, especially if this occurred in the 2000s (which I suspect it did because Vince had an iPod).
That said, we don’t know how old the child looked. When I read the story, I immediately thought of someone who was about six years old since I’m prone to referring to teenagers as, well, teenagers. Even though they’re classified as children, I grew up hearing the two categorized differently. It’s likely the part of New York I was from—or the time period. Oh well, I suppose the old saying is true. You learn something new every day!
Aside from that, there’s one other Redditor who posited the Man From the Box was a demon. They didn’t go into detail aside from how they’ve heard a lot of accounts, and it’s made them believe there’s something to the stories. Again, I’d argue that this is possible, but I wonder how a demon was momentarily sealed in a box only to escape moments later. I’d also question why it didn’t try to harm Vince; you’d think demons would be eager to hurt someone.
I digress, though. Overall, compared to the first two theories, I’d say this one has more going for it than it doesn’t. However, I’ll freely admit that I’m heavily biased on account of my belief in the paranormal. As such, there is a bit of bias that’s seeping its way into that take.
Despite that, if there were ever a time to argue that a young person colossally messed up and scrambled to get rid of a bouquet of oopsy-daisies, this would be the time. I will gladly stand by that stance; sorry to all of my more skeptical readers. Your opinion is valid, too—especially with a case like this. Now, then, let’s move on to the next theory, which is going to take us down another rabbit hole.
4. An alien
Normally, when I organize the theories, I try to keep certain things together. For example, Indrid Cold’s theory led to the Men in Black theory. So, logically, this should have been next. However, aside from finding it late, it’s also a bit flimsy—and it has an entirely separate story tied to it.
A Redditor named College_Fox (who I’ll refer to as Fox for the sake of simplicity) mentioned that Googled to see if they “could find any other incidents” like the one Vince described. Rather amusingly, they said that “orange skin, when not associated with foods, pops up for aliens.” I, for one, associate orange with a multitude of other things, like Home Depot, orange tabby cats, and the logo for Nickelodeon.
These aliens, according to Fox, are known as the “Orange.” Out of curiosity, I decided to do a bit of digging around myself, though I opted to use Bing because my luck there is often better than with Google, especially when I want to find some more niche information. That paid off because I did find a fair number of sources related to these “Orange” aliens.
Now, I won’t go over these things in-depth because I don’t want to detract from the theory. No, that honor goes to a supposed alien encounter that Fox linked. But before we get there, let me elaborate on what an Orange is.
According to Alienpedia, Oranges have been seen in “southern Nevada, northern New Mexico, and possibly Utah.” This puts them in one of the most iconic regions for UFO and alien reports in the United States—the southwestern portion.
In terms of appearance, Oranges are said to have “yellow-orange hair” and are described as humanoid or reptilian. The former are the ones who sport the yellow-orange hair, while the latter, I’m guessing, lacks any. To me, that sounds like two different species of extraterrestrials, but I digress.
There’s also a third type that’s said to be a hybrid of humanoid and reptilian; they appear human but sport reptilian features. I cannot find any information on what these “features” are, but they can’t be tharp prominent if the aliens themselves have hair.
To further complicate things, there’s a fourth kind—or maybe some sort of subtype—of Orange that “allegedly looks like a reptilian but has no soul matrix.” I’m going to be upfront and say that I have no idea what a soul matrix is. I looked it up and found a website dedicated to it, and it sounds like a spiritual thing tied to spirit healing. So, if I had to guess, the reptilian Oranges lack a soul. I could be wrong, though. Spirit healing and the like has never been something that’s interested me.
Despite knowing quite a bit about their appearance and the apparent different types of Oranges there are, sightings are reportedly rare. They’re so rare, in fact, that it’s “difficult which type—if any—are real.” This would be interesting if not for the claim that some reports apparently exist, and while most describe Oranges as “peaceful,” others claim “they may be dangerous if provoked or threatened in some way.”
Evidently, we know so little about them that we know they’re mostly peaceful until they aren’t. Maybe I’m in a grumpy mood as I’m writing this, but that irks me greatly.
With that summary out of the way, I do think it’s worth noting that Think About It (which I’m guessing is related to a website I frequently go to for stories: Think About It Docs) has a more detailed summary of Oranges. I won’t go over it since it gets into much deeper alien lore, but it’s worth reading if you want to know more about them.
So, why’d I spend so much time going over these beings? Well, Fox said that one story appeared when they were looking for something that matched the Man From the Box. That was a purported alien encounter at the Dhekelia Barracks in Cyprus back in September of 1968. Just like the Man From the Box, this sighting was extraordinarily weird. Due to its short length, I’ll go over it in full; I make no promises that it’ll be a short read, though. This is me we’re talking about.
The site Fox linked to (the UFO Research wiki) no longer has the story in question listed, but another called Paranorms does. The Humanoid Encounters subreddit also does. So, this is by no means some tall tale—at least, not in the realm of UFOlogy.
Apparently, an “unnamed [British] NCO” (Non-commissioned Officer, for those unfamiliar with the acronym) awoke one night to the “barking and growling” of a Turkish Wolfhound. This alerted not only the NCO (who I’ll call Doug) but others. Despite this, Doug was the only one to report what he saw. At least, as far as Paranorms says.
According to Doug, the guard dog soon lost all of his bravado and took refuge under the bunk. It whimpered and whined. Clearly, whatever was coming was a notch or two above “enemy personnel.”
This assumption would soon be proven true when Doug heard a “high-pitched humming noise” come from “just outside of his dorm room.” The noise was indescribable, with Doug saying it was “unlike anything he had heard before.”
Naturally curious as to what made a military guard dog metaphorically piss itself in terror, Doug got out of bed and approached his barracks door. He cautiously opened it and caught sight of something walking up the stairs—and boy, oh boy, was it definitely a thing.
Doug said the figure—which Paranorms said was an “apparition”—had a bright, orange face that was “horribly inclined forwards.” I had to look up what this meant since I was genuinely unfamiliar with the phrase. In the simplest terms possible, it’s when your head’s tilted completely to one side. I feel dumb for not realizing that, but I’d never heard someone say a person’s head was “inclined.”
On top of that, the figure had a “hideous scowl,” “large, unblinking eyes,” a “plume of fiery red hair,” and most baffling of all, “a bright blue suit without any collars.” All things considered, this thing sounds like a rejected mascot for the New York Mets. Maybe if they brought it back, they’d win the World Series again.
My baseball hot takes aside, this colorful entity must’ve been a die-hard fan of exorcism movies before they were a thing because its head twisted 180 degrees when it “reached the top of the stairs.” The article said it was like its head “wasn’t attached to a body.” I find this interesting because if the figure was facing Doug, it turned its head away from him like it was revolted by his appearance. This is obviously the right answer because Doug saw the scowl initially. However, if its head had been facing away, it would’ve been walking up the stairs without knowing what was in front of it. Either way, the fear factor went down drastically for me right here.
Doug disagreed with me, though. Upon seeing the orange-colored head-twister, he impolitely slammed his barrack’s door and made a tactical retreat. Unfortunately, this act of defiance didn’t cause the being to leave. Instead, it rebelled against society the same way a teenager in the mid-2000s would while listening to My Chemical Romance. As such, the humming that was mentioned earlier “grew louder and louder until it filled the air.” I’m sure that was just Teenagers playing. Trust me, I love MCR.
Anyway, there was more filling the air than just the hum. Accompanying it was “a sliding sound” that “indicated something” was advancing toward Doug. So, he did the only thing that he believed was perfectly sound and reasonable.
He grabbed a speargun and fired it at the door.
No, I’m not joking. That’s what the article said. That’s what every other source said, too. The only weapon Doug had was an “underwater speargun,” so he shot it at the door. The round went through the door, resulting in the sounds ceased. I guess the figure at the door was Davy Jones.
Ultimately, Doug sat in his room until a guard found him. He was evaluated and eventually deemed to be as healthy as could be, so one can presume that this wasn’t a hallucination on Doug’s part (then again, this was 1968, so I doubt the evaluation was as good as it would be nowadays).
As Doug’s Turkish Wolfhound, he became terrified of “the slightest sudden noise.” This is mentioned at the end of the articles I read, and I figured I’d give all of my dog-loving readers some closure. The weird alien ghost thing didn’t physically hurt the dog.
With all of that now out of the way, we can get to Fox’s theory. Suffice it to say, there’s definitely precedent at play here. While the Man From the Box lacked hair, the orange-colored skin, bizarre appearance, and overall terrifying demeanor certainly align with what Doug saw. While they aren’t a perfect match, it’s worth noting that aliens aren’t always one-to-one replicas of each other. Greys have been described as being upward of 8 feet (2.4 meters) tall and as short as roughly 3 feet (91 centimeters).
On top of that, there’s also the manner of the odd behavior. The figure Doug saw twisted its head around for no apparent reason. While a far cry from the Man From the Box’s metal bar headbashing (in my opinion), it’s still not something you’d expect out of, well, anything. Not unless it was an animal that can naturally turn its head like that, but I don’t recall animals that looked anything like whatever the heck this thing was.
Additionally—and this is a bit more iffy—there are reports of aliens that behave in a similar manner to ghosts. Some have said they can move through doors manifest at will and give off the impression they’re incorporeal beings. Such aspects align with what Doug saw, and it could align with what Vince saw. Personally, I’d argue that it’s considerably weaker when it comes to Vince’s case because of the whole “box” aspect, but I digress. There are still some similarities at play there.
So, that’s that, right? Well, not quite. There are a couple of issues with this theory. The first is, of course, the whole box aspect. To put it bluntly, that isn’t a very alien-like thing. Beyond that, I’ve already gone over why this was an issue when I talked about the Men in Black, so I won’t repeat myself.
The second is the Man From the Box acted much more supernaturally than anything else. While this may sound like it’s contradicting what I said above, let me clarify that this thing emerged from a box. It reminded me of how a genie is said to emerge from a lamp. Never in my 28 years of living on this beautiful planet have I heard of an alien emerging from a box—or any other container—like Aladdin found it.
Of course, you could say that this was an alien or being that is beyond our comprehension (more on that later). However, I find it hard to imagine aliens as being simultaneously corporeal and incorporeal without some outside technology. The Man From the Box only had a trench coat that he put the box inside of like he was concealing a book from the rain. Unless that coat granted him the power to shrink like he was Ant-Man (which, if it did, that’s pretty neat), I can’t imagine this was an alien. If there’s a story out there that involves something like this happening, though, I’d love to know!
That said, it’s hard for me to dismiss the similarities between this and Doug’s story—and the so-called “Oranges” as a whole. So, to some degree, I think there’s more here than when we discussed Indrid Cold and the Men in Black. However, compared to the spirit theory, I’d say this one’s weaker. But, hey, if you disagree, more power to you. For now, though, I think it’s about time we move on to the next theory. It’s one that I’ve been eagerly waiting to discuss as it’s something I seldom get to discuss!
5. A folkloric creature
If this theory’s name was any vaguer, it may as well read, “A creature.” However, there’s a reason for that vagueness, and it comes in the form of yet another reply from a Redditor. If you can’t tell, every theory is from a Redditor. This one, in particular, is from a user named “chaoskitty,” who said that Vince’s story was “clicking something” in their brain and that it reminded them “of something Stephen King would write about.” While I’m inclined to agree, I immediately thought of something from a James Wan film, like the Crooked Man from The Conjuring 2 (see below).
In addition to having their memory jogged, Kitty (as I shall refer to the Redditor) brought up a firsthand experience they had as a child when playing with their friends. Kitty said they “were playing a creepy game of hide and seek” in their church’s cemetery. I question why these kids were out playing in a graveyard, but maybe it was close enough to their homes. Or maybe it was a different time. Regardless, I hope none of them disturbed those who were resting in peace.
Anyway, Kitty was “running to a hiding place” when they looked out at the cemetery. As Kitty did, they noticed a small man who was wearing red and white. Not exactly the sort of thing you’d wear when going to a graveyard, but this pint-sized Santa Claus wannabe wasn’t here to pay their respects. No, according to Kitty, the man was “dancing on top of a recent grave.”
After this, Kitty claimed they “saw a flutter of colors” accompanied by a human-sized shape. This “filled in the blanks,” and eventually resulted in them seeing “a small, horribly disfigured troll dancing around.” If any of that was hard to follow, don’t worry; you’re not alone. It took me longer than I wish to admit to understand what Kitty meant. I’ll explain it in a bit.
Upon seeing the horrific little troll, Kitty froze in their tracks. However, as luck would have it, they finally processed what they were actually seeing. In Kitty’s own words:
[A] vase of red and white flowers with ribbons blowing in the wind.
So, what does this comment have to do with the theory overall? After all, there is a rational explanation for it. Well, despite Kitty’s tale being easily explained, I wanted to use it as the stepping stone for a greater picture.
While the idea of a malicious-looking troll may sound little more than a fairy tale, stories of them, goblins, gremlins, gnomes, and other things (such as the Duende, which one Redditor posited) are not uncommon. As I’ve said in the past, you can find a plethora of supposedly real accounts about these mythical beings on YouTube. Belief in these creatures is also strong in many parts of the world, with outsiders typically being scolded for disregarding warnings by locals.
With that in mind, what creature could Vince have seen? Well, that’s very tricky because we don’t know where this occurred. The time period is obvious, given he had an iPod, but that doesn’t mean much when you’re dealing with something that may or may not exist. This isn’t the Thylacine; it’s not like gremlins went extinct in 2007.
To make matters worse, I’m not the most well-versed person when it comes to folkloric creatures. I know some iconic figures, but I’m not an encyclopedia. Nevertheless, I had a contingency plan going into this theory, and that was to assume that where Vince lived didn’t matter. Much like how Bigfoot and UFO sightings are a global phenomenon, we’ll say that the figure Vince saw was something that’s been seen around the world.
According to one user on the mythology subreddit, various tricksters “are able to shrink down to hide” or sneak into places. To the best of my knowledge, they usually do this to cause mischief and be a general nuisance. If I didn’t make an Ant-Man quip earlier, I’d make one now. Oh well, that’s life.
If I’m to be honest, this sounds like a fine explanation—from a folkloric perspective, anyway. I’m sure there are many ways to capture a trickster that involves something like this, plus an ancient ritual or sealing spell that would keep the entity contained. As I said earlier, think of a genie and its lamp.
On top of that, the kid throwing the box into the air would explain why the figure got out. It’s possible that resulted in whatever ritual or seal being broken. At least, that would be my guess. I know nothing of arcane arts nor anything that’s adjacent to them, so I’m spitballing here.
However, the problem with this theory is that I don’t know what the creature would be. The appearance of this thing doesn’t match any trickster that I know of. It sounded like it was more human than anything else, but Vince also described it as a monstrosity. I also don’t get why the figure would take the thing it was sealed in. That seems counterproductive.
Nevertheless, if there was a theory that deserved to be sat on as a possibility, it would be this one. While I know many skeptics would label me as a kook for having this stance, I’ve always been someone who think that fables and legends had to originate from somewhere. The same goes for creatures of legend. That isn’t to say every forest is inhabited by elves, satyrs, or both, but I’ve always wondered if there was something out there lurking where man refuses to tread.
There’s also the matter of not knowing where this story took place. Given how rich Earth’s various cultures are, it’s impossible to say what this could have been. I was tempted to elaborate on what the Duende is (though I did that when we covered the Triangle Creature earlier this month), but I opted against it since I don’t know if this occurred in Latin America. Also, the Duende is similar to a gnome, not a normal-sized human. If I’m wrong about this, I welcome a correction.
Because of those factors and due to my own lackluster understanding of countless folkloric entities, I don’t think it would be fair for me to criticize this theory as much as I did the preceding ones. So, as it stands, I’ll leave this one up to you more than anything else. I doubt it’s the answer we’re looking for, but it’s certainly not something I’d immediately brush off.
On a brighter note, at least I got to talk about folklore in some capacity. God willing, 2025 will be the year I can learn enough to properly discuss this theory without having to apologize for my poor knowledge!
6. An interdimensional being
When I said that the Man From the Box may be beyond our comprehension, this is what I meant. It’s time for the obligatory interdimensional being theory to take the stage!
Now, I’m sure that at least one person who’s read this write-up was waiting for this to be put forward. The reason I saved it for now is because it’s easily one of the most plausible theories, at least in terms of Fortean explanations.
For starters, this does explain the man’s ability to seemingly vanish. Whether he did this of his own volition or slipped back to his, I don’t know, but everything about him sounds more like he was here voluntarily and not accidentally. So, if I had to pick, I’d say he was here voluntarily.
Now, if that’s the case, there’s one question that immediately comes to mind: How did this strange man get here? Unless he forced our universe to overlap with his own (which sounds like something a cosmic being from a fantasy novel could only do), the circumstances surrounding it point away from that. Of course, I could be wrong.
Assuming that’s not the case, the only other explanation is he used some piece of incredible technology to traverse dimensions. Fair enough; this theory isn’t limited to explaining cryptids. If we had the means to travel to other universes without risking harm, I’m sure many would do it. So, it stands to reason this man may have been doing that.
However, if that were the case, one has to wonder how he got here. As far as we know, Vince didn’t see anything that would indicate he could travel between dimensions. He has a trench coat and a small box—the latter of which was left by a child. So, unless one of those items allowed him to go to and from our world, this theory’s nonsense…
Or it would be if not for an alternate explanation. I know; this plot twist wasn’t telegraphed from the opening of the theory. Sadly, I am not M. Night Shyamalan.
It’s possible—at least, in terms of the Fortean—that the Man From the Box was from a pocket dimension and not a visitor from a parallel world.
Now, for those who are unfamiliar with pocket dimensions, allow me to explain them. In the simplest way imaginable, think of something like a genie’s lamp. It’s a world confined to something you could fit in your pocket. Also, I can’t believe that I’ve brought up a genie’s lamp three times now. I never thought I’d do that—ever,
Given that the man Vince saw rose out of a box he couldn’t possibly fit in, you could make the argument that the box was a pocket dimension. Personally, that doesn’t sound far-fetched to me. Pocket dimensions are a real theory, so it’s not like this is something completely rooted in the realm of pseudoscience. Granted, I know extraordinarily little about these concepts, but that’s what happens when your life’s a roller coaster of chaos and unpredictability.
On top of that, we don’t know why the child Vince saw had the box in the first place. If they were aware of who resided in the box, one would have to wonder why he brought it somewhere as opposed to running away while screaming. Then again, children are known to be oddly calm when it comes to the paranormal, so maybe this kid just rolled with the interdimensional man in a box.
That said, it’s also possible the child was an interdimensional traveler himself. While certainly a stretch, I believe it’s important we leave no stone unturned, especially when we’re dealing with a story that’s as enigmatic as this one.
Anyway, let’s move on. Another issue is that the man vanished. Unless this was some sort of demon, I doubt it would be from a pocket dimension. However, I know very little about that stuff (as stated many times), so I could be wrong. Boy, someone should make a habit out of each time I say that this month; do a few pushups whenever I say it. Get into shape, dear reader!
The third and final flaw I’ll bring up is one that falls squarely on me. Due to my lack of knowledge of parallel dimensions, it’s hard for me to say how likely this theory really is. It’s one thing when we’re discussing a creature that was seen and subsequently vanished. However, given the Man From the Box acted intelligent (the repeated application of a metal bar to the head notwithstanding), I don’t think I’m in any place to adequately critique this theory the same way I did some of the others (and will critique the upcoming ones). So, keep that in mind.
Ultimately, I think there’s a fair bit going for this theory—especially when it comes to the more “high-concept” ideas one can present for this case. While I tend to use this theory as a joke due to its absurd presence last year, I genuinely believe you can make some argument here, especially with the idea of a pocket dimension. I just wish I understood why a fully grown man was confined to a box. Then again, a demon was purportedly confined to a box (in the form of the earlier-mentioned Dybbuk Box), so who am I to judge?
Speaking of trapping things in boxes, that leads us to our next theory. It was one that I’d considered including in this one, but I figured it was so far detached from the concept of interdimensional beings that it warranted its own section. It’s also something that I’ve wanted to do a full-blown write-up on for a while but have never had the courage to tackle because it’s an absolute beast to a topic. So, come along, let’s dig into one of the Internet’s most popular topics!
7. A Tulpa
I’m not sure when the Internet’s fascination with Tulpas began, but I believe it was around the time Slender Man’s popularity was at its peak. Whatever the case may be, they’ve become an interesting subsect of Internet culture; there’s an entire subreddit dedicated to them, which I find fascinating.
As for what a Tulpa is, it’s something you imagine into existence—usually in human form. While its origins are rooted in Buddhism, they’ve become prominent in the world of the paranormal. So much so that I have to wonder if Tulpas are akin to Skinwalkers in that the Internet has distorted them to the point they’re unrecognizable.
The reason I say that is because there are some who believe Tulpas are why sightings of Slender Man and The Rake exist. Although the latter is sometimes used interchangeably with Pale Crawlers, that doesn’t change the maddening idea of Slender Man being real.
As for how such beings became real, some claim the belief people have in the stories caused them to manifest in our world. This idea has been rejected by some because if such a thing was real, Santa Claus should exist. I’ll just note that Santa Claus sightings do allegedly exist and that I might write about them one day when I can take them seriously.
Suffice it to say, Tulpas are a can of worms that I could spend quite a while discussing. However, that’s not why we’re here. No, we’re here to discuss the idea that the Man From the Box was a Tulpa—one likely made by the child who (somehow) got him into the box. Alternatively, the kid was disposing of a Tulpa for someone else.
Boy, I’m sure someone out there is going to read that and want to slap me for getting something wrong. If you do, I’m sorry. I’m going off of what little I know while enjoying my time writing!
On a more serious note, you can argue that this was achieved through a sealing spell or some other magical method. Regardless, this theory ends up falling into most of the same talking points—both in and against its favor—as the third theory. The one difference is that the being was spawned from the child’s mind rather than being a pre-existing entity.
The idea of it being the product of the child Vince saw does, in itself, open up an explanation for the man’s strange headbanging. Tulpas are sometimes thought to be constructs of people with mental illness. From what I know, it’s often done out of loneliness, but I’m sure there are other reasons for their creation (assuming they’re real).
Should they be real, it’s possible that this particular Tulpa was birthed from the mind of a mentally ill person (which could suggest that the child was a teenager instead of someone around the age of six), and its violent headbanging was due to the instability of its creator. This would also explain why the person wished to be rid of it so badly. If you had to deal with what was essentially your fractured psyche given form, you, too, would want it out of your life, no?
Of course, I should stress that this is a shot in the dark; I’ve already said that I’m the most well-versed person on Tulpas, so I’m winging it here—big time. Given Vince never saw the child again—or, as far as we know, he didn’t—it’s impossible to tell if this was the case.
Ultimately, if you subscribe to the belief of Tulpas, you may find yourself somewhat inclined to buy into this theory. However, if you don’t, I doubt there’s anything I or anyone else can do to change your mind. And let’s face it, this theory—heck, the story as a whole—is so crazy that I’d be amazed if you made it this far.
Lucky for the skeptics who have weathered the story, it’s time to dive into the theories you’ve no doubt been craving. So, come along; let’s put our thinking caps on and try to rationalize what is arguably one of the most irrational cases I’ve ever covered.
8. A hoax
Let’s start off with the most obvious theory: this was all made up to scare Redditors. Given the kind of thread it was in (a thread dedicated to sharing the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you), it would stand to reason that more than a few of the stories were fake. After all, this is Reddit we’re talking about.
While anyone can snoop through your account to look at your post history, you can also create a throwaway account for a one-off post, typically for amassing a bunch of Karma (which is a way to see how good and worthwhile your posts and comments are). Certain subreddits require you to have a certain amount of Karma to participate in them. Alternatively, the account can be sold, which is supposedly quite lucrative.
However, I don’t want to linger on that point for too long—mainly because I went over this, along with other reasons for why people would fake a story like this, in greater detail when I discussed the Nickelodeon Hamster Wheel Broadcast at the start of the month. So, rather than recycle talking points, let’s get into the unique things this theory has going for it.
The first and most blatant issue is the box’s size. Simply put, there’s no way that a fully grown man could fit inside. I can attest to this because I owned a skateboard while growing up. I sucked at using it, but I still owned it. I also know how big the board and box were. Needless to say, the box wasn’t going to house a human. Once more, I could make an Ant-Man joke here, but I won’t; I do find it weird how I’ve had three opportunities now to do so, though.
There’s also the matter of how Vince never clarifies if he saw the child again. While it’s possible he did it in a reply, I never saw anyone address it if he said so. This bothers me greatly because the idea of Vince not reporting a child who was out and about at what I have to imagine was late at night without adult supervision is really weird.
Of course, as stated a few times during this write-up, the child could’ve been a teenager. In that case, it would be considerably less weird. If that were the case, though, I wish we’d at least gotten word if Vince recognized the person from school (assuming they were in the same age range) or had seen them around town.
The third flaw is one that ties into the child, albeit loosely. Apparently, the park the kid was in was behind his home. This bothers me immensely because I can relate to this to a tee.
To digress for a brief moment, I grew up in an area where there was a park not far from my home; you could hop a fence to get into it, actually, if you went to my friends’ homes. None of us did, though, because the park and nearby playground were known drug dealing locations, and none of us were keen on being stabbed for seeing something we shouldn’t see.
Why do I mention something so morbid? Well, assuming Vince’s childhood home was anything like the one I had the privilege of residing in, why did nobody else see the man? Common sense dictates that it was late at night, but surely someone who was outside smoking a cigarette, going for a walk, or returning home would’ve noticed the child at the very least.
I know this may come across as me nitpicking at problems, but I’m projecting my experiences growing up in suburban New York onto this story. It’s hard for me not to imagine what I knew when covering a story like this. So when key details like the type of area this occurred in are left out, I’m left with nothing but to envision the place I knew as home for 26 of my 28 years alive as the setting.
Assuming someone did see the kid, it would stand to reason that Vince could’ve asked around if anyone had seen them and mentioned their odd behavior. He wouldn’t have to bring up the man he saw; he could leave that out and speculate the kid was a runaway or teenager who took LSD. It’s a little detail that drives me up a wall; that’s all.
Now, with that said, there are some things going against this theory—heavily. The first thing is that Vince apparently shared this story multiple times in the past without changing details. It’s possible he had it written in a Google document. I’d find that a bit odd, but I suppose it could work if you’re looking to reel in reactions.
On top of that, human memory is imperfect (more on that in the next theory). Coupled with how this might’ve occurred long before it was posted about the first time, it stands to reason that Vince might’ve forgotten to include them (despite having posted the story more than once). It’s also possible that his hometown wasn’t the best, so asking around about a suspicious person would’ve made others weary of him.
Another thing going against the idea this was a hoax is that the story is weird, but not weird in the traditional sense, like seeing a Pale Crawler or the Loveland Frogman. This is one of those cases where everything is so outlandish and ludicrous that the idea of making it up to trick people feels like a fool’s errand. Sure, some of the replies did come from people who clearly believed Vince’s experience, but I’m thinking about this from the outset.
If I were Vince and I wanted to craft a believable scary encounter, I wouldn’t go all-in on the absurdist imagery. When I think about it, the way the Man From the Box was described reminds me of a Tex Avery cartoon than anything else. Its ability to effectively defy the laws of physics, take abuse without sustaining any apparent injury, and its enormous grin are all staples of Avery’s style.
That said, it’s possible the story wasn’t designed to trick believers of the Fortean into believing something ridiculous. Vince could have simply been trying to scare people—and judging by the replies, he did. Heck, I’d say I was put off by some of the imagery in the story; it’s nightmarish in a way.
Then again, “acmesrv,” the user who suggested the entity may have been a “very odd” member of the Men in Black, claimed they spoke to Vince; Vince purportedly asserted the story was true. So, hey, Vince stuck to his guns—and presumably did up until he deleted his account. I’ll likely never know because Reddit archiving is nowhere near as good as it was years ago.
Ultimately, this theory is proudly stuck in the middle—at least, it is in my eyes. There’s more than enough going for it to say it has merit, but it also hinges on Vince believing that enough Redditors who are into the supernatural would ignore the outlandish nature of his story and want to look into it. If that was the case, it worked—which I think is quite amazing.
Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be amazed. The Oviedo Dick Monster has been mentioned on Reddit several times in the past few years, and countless people have reportedly seen Slender Man (despite him being a fictional character). I suppose it all depends on your stance on how gullible some people are. Personally, I have more faith than the average Joe when it comes to the general populace. You, of course, may be different. Now, let’s head on to the next theory!
9. A false memory
This is a short theory, so I’ll cut to the chase. As I mentioned before, human memory is imperfect; even those with a photographic memory can and do make mistakes because, hey, your brain’s not a repertoire of everything that’s happened in your life. I’ve gone over this in other write-ups this month, though, so I won’t linger on it for long.
As for how this would work, it’s pretty simple. Given the poor family life Vince had, it’s possible that he saw a kid playing with some box they’d found, but they ran off when they saw a passed-out drug addict or alcoholic. When the man woke up—maybe from the kid dropping the box on him, he proceeded to slam his head against something because he was mad at himself or had a headache.
As unhealthy as that sounds, I’ve wanted to slam my head against a wall when I’ve had a migraine. So, I can imagine this guy did what I’ve yearned to do and bashed his head against something, hoping to dull the pain through more pain. Don’t worry, Man From the Box. I can assure you that the pain doesn’t get any better as you get older. However, you do start to care less about a lot of stuff, so the pain becomes second only to living life to its fullest. It’s a great trade-off! No, I’m not a used car salesman. Why do you ask?
Anyway, that no doubt sounds ridiculous. After all, Vince said the man emerged from the box and that his skin was orange. However, I’d argue that various factors—like a heavy tan and the lighting of the park—might’ve made his skin appear orange. On top of that, it’s possible Vince was so terrified that when he reflected on the event, his memory made everything out to be far scarier than it actually was.
That isn’t a novel concept. I’ve discussed in other write-ups about how I’ve misremembered countless things that have scared me, such as how large a house centipede was. For those who don’t know the story, I once saw a house centipede rush down a wall while I was on the computer. Despite knowing it wasn’t that large, my memory of it is that it was practically the size of a Huntsman Spider.
For context, a Huntsman Spider is roughly the size of a dinner plate (when accounting for its horrifying leg span). They’re also known as the “Wood Spider.” Personally, I like to call them the “Everytime I Think About Them, I Get Anxious and Look Around My Room Spider.” No, that isn’t a joke. I get paranoid that one’s on the wall right near me. God, I hate spiders so much that it’s unreal.
Anyway, assuming Vince was terrified by what he saw—and he was young enough to be put off by someone with an abnormal appearance (possibly due to some sort of birth defect or injury they sustained)—this could easily explain the whole thing to an extent. However, I must note that my knowledge of birth defects and how one’s appearance comes to be is so comically bad that you should take this with a few million grains of salt.
That said, while an abnormal appearance does rationalize some things, it doesn’t quite explain the man phasing out of existence. While having the ability to act like one of those “High Templar” Protoss units sounds supremely awesome, it’s not something we as a species are yet capable of. I really hope we can one day do it, though. I’d totally buy movie tickets for worthwhile movies before sneaking into the wrong theater to watch something that doesn’t deserve my non-existent money. Nobody can stop me; I’m the man who can phase in and out of reality!
Jokes aside, and on a more serious note, one other thing the abnormal appearance doesn’t explain is the man’s large, black eyes. It could be explained if the man was blind since blindness can cause your eyes to become black, though it’s exceedingly rare. I also don’t understand why he wouldn’t have something to help guide him (like a seeing-eye dog or cane). I also doubt he’d know Vince was staring at him unless he was partially blind.
I also don’t think this can explain the man taking the box. I know that’s a very insignificant detail, but it’s such a baffling thing to take. I don’t know if there are people out there who collect boxes, but the idea of taking one for the heck of it is arguably weirder than this entire story, at least in my eyes.
Nevertheless, it’d be disingenuous of me to say that this theory lacks merit. It has plenty going for it if you’re like me and don’t rely solely on memory when it comes to things. Perhaps that’s because of my age and due to having endured the oh-so-wonderful thing that is brain fog, but I could easily see Vince’s memory failing him.
Funnily enough, the next theory ties directly into the idea of Vince’s memory failing him. I alluded to it much earlier and really want to talk about it. So, rather than linger here, let’s dive into it. At least if we’re diving, I don’t have to worry about any spiders being on my wall. Wait, spiders can’t swim, right? Please tell me they can’t.
10. A nightmare
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked writer, and he slapped him for being a terrible poet.
Our tenth theory is that Vince suffered from a lucid nightmare—or night terror.
If you remember the start of the fifth theory, I brought the second Conjuring film and singled out the character of the “Crooked Man.” I also said that you should remember that, and there’s a reason for that. While The Conjuring 2 wouldn’t be released until June 10, 2016, both it and its predecessor are considered two of the best horror films of the 2010s. I recall one critic said the first film was what your nightmares have nightmares about.
As such, I think there’s a good argument to be made that Vince had a very lucid and intense nightmare brought about by watching a scary movie or due to the stress of his family life. In the case of the former, it’s possible he saw The Ring or The Grudge, both of which feature the film’s killer spirits emerging from somewhere to kill those who are marked for death.
Now, granted, those films feature the vengeful, pale-skinned ghosts of women with long, black hair. That’s a stark difference from the orange and bald man Vince saw. Which, okay, fair enough. I was just using them as an example (since they were big in the early-to-mid 2000s). Also, nightmares don’t need to be a one-to-one reenactment of whatever scared you that day.
Additionally, nightmares don’t have to rely on the laws of reality. Heck, dreams as a whole don’t. To give an example, I’ve had countless dreams where I can turn invisible and sneak around at ridiculously high speed because I wanted to get out of a bad situation. Sometimes, these involve spiders. Other times, they’re about centipedes. In a few instances, they center people with knives who want to shank me. My dreams make about as much sense as the stories I typically cover for Decemystery; nonsensical tomfoolery runs in my blood and throughout my brain, dear reader.
This logic, which is sometimes referred to as “dream logic,” would explain the abnormal behavior exhibited by the Man From the Box. It’d also explain how he was able to fit inside the box, and it could explain why Vince said he was unable to move at one point. Then again, I’m undoubtedly overthinking things there. Still, I think it’s worth noting.
Now, while this theory sounds like it’s on a bit of flimsy ground, it has its fair share of supporters. In the replies to Vince’s account, there were not one, not two, but three Redditors who proposed the idea. In the case of the third one, which came from a now-suspended user named “haleybutt,” they claim they “had a dream” about the same figure; Haley said the figure they saw had orange skin, an elongated head, and large, black eyes. I find that interesting, though it could be a bizarre coincidence—unless this is some kind of nightmare demon I’m unfamiliar with.
I’d also like to add my two cents by saying that I’ve had numerous lucid nightmares. While I know now they were nightmares, I would’ve sworn at the time that they were real. So, from a personal perspective, I’d say It’s possible that Vince had a nightmare and misremembered it years later. As a result, this theory and the previous one go hand-in-hand.
On the flip side, there are two things that work against this theory. The first is that Vince isn’t me, so I can’t project what I think he’s like into this write-up and label it as fact. As such, it’s equally—if not more—likely that he didn’t have a nightmare. Or, if he did, he would have woken up and gone, “Oh, it was just a dream,” before going back to sleep.
The second thing is something that I find amusing. Simply put, there’s no way to prove it. None of us can definitively prove that Vince had a nightmare and misremembered it. While this may seem like I’m repeating what I just said, I mean this a lot more broadly. Even if this were the case, we can’t prove it without something like time travel or something that lets us peer into the past.
Granted, if someone who reads this happens to know Vince—which seems like an astronomically slim chance—and gets him to not only read this but also think back on everything, there’s no way that his word would be reliable. Why? Well, because by reading this, he’d have the seeds of doubt planted in his mind. I’m not saying I’m a silver-tongued man, but it doesn’t take a lot to make someone doubt themselves if you can present an argument that holds even the tiniest bit of water.
I swear, I made this theory a self-defeating paradox.
Oh well, whatever. My point is that unless the United States is hiding time travel in Area 51 or the Vatican has the Chronovisor on standby, this theory’s in limbo. I’d say it’s probable, but I digress. I’m hitting the point where I’m going in circles with my writing, and the next theory is one that I find fascinating. So, come along; it’s time for us to get psychological.
11. A hallucination
Aside from this being a hoax, this is arguably the most rational explanation for this case. A part of me is tempted to go so far as to say there is no argument to be otherwise, but I don’t want to come across like my word is the ultimate authority; I do want to leave the door open for you to draw your own conclusions.
Anyway, this theory can be taken in an assortment of ways since hallucinations can be caused by numerous things. Mental illness, exhaustion, dehydration, stress, fevers, drugs, alcohol, certain health conditions (like seizures), carbon monoxide, and sleep deprivation are the ones I can name off the top of my head. In Vince’s case, the two most obvious culprits are stress and exhaustion. Dehydration is another possibility, but more on that later.
The first person I saw bring this idea up was a Redditor named “SelectaRx,” who suggested it was a stress-induced hallucination. Their reasoning was pretty cut and dry: Vince said he had a rough family life. That, coupled with the hours they spent on their trampoline, led to him hallucinating the entire thing.
Personally, I can see that being the case. I’d add that we don’t know if Vince was keeping himself hydrated. If he wasn’t, then it would stand to reason that he was dehydrated. As wild as it may seem, jumping on a trampoline for hours on end is exhausting—or so said a friend of mine who, coincidentally, mentioned how he got tired of jumping on one after a few minutes when he was younger shortly before I began work on this write-up.
If the Man From the Box was the product of a hallucination, then practically every abnormal thing about the entire story is easily explained as having been in Vince’s head. The only thing that wouldn’t be explained is the child. It’s possible they were a part of the hallucination, but I don’t know how complex they can get. I imagine they can be pretty elaborate, but I don’t want to take a shot in the dark. My only experience with a hallucination was with a fever (more on that in a moment).
One other thing this could explain—and it’s something I’ve glossed over heavily throughout this story—is that Vince’s best friend told him that he was “seeing things” and “needed to calm down.” While this is a massive assumption, I have to wonder if something similar to this had happened before, and Vince panicked, but it was explained to him and his best friend that Vince hallucinated. However, given the vivid nature of what happened here, Vince didn’t accept that explanation.
Again, it’s a massive assumption on my part, but it’s something I have experience with. I had strep throat as a child and ended up with a fever of 105.3. At one point, I distinctly recall thinking I saw a man on the ceiling painting. My mother told me there was no man up there, but I kept insisting there was. The memory, while hazy, has stuck with me because it’s the only time I ever vividly hallucinated, and it was one of the most surreal things I’ve ever experienced.
That said, my experience and Vince’s are two radically different experiences. Still, I thought it’d be worth bringing up due to how real (not to mention terrifying) a hallucination can be for the person suffering from it. After all, your brain is basically lying to you, and that isn’t very nice of it.
Anyway, getting back on track, the cause for the hallucination doesn’t have to be limited to the two or three (depending on if Vince had water with him) suspects I brought up earlier. It’s possible Vince may have had an undiagnosed—or untreated—mental disorder. I’m not a psychiatrist, though, so I have no idea how prevalent hallucinations are in people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (despite being bipolar myself). However, it’d be callous to dismiss the possibility since it does explain almost everything about this story.
There are also the other causes that I brought up earlier. Vince could have been sleep deprived, have taken some illicit substance, or anything else. Given that we don’t know the specifics of what his “rough family life” was like, there are a ton of possibilities that one can speculate on and craft their own narrative. As you guys know, I try my best to refrain from that when it comes to someone’s personal life, so I’d rather not assume what Vince was doing to cope with his family life (outside of jumping on a trampoline while listening to music).
Ultimately, this theory’s got a whole lot going for it. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that it’s the strongest one. Despite it arguably having the same pitfall as the previous theory (in that you can’t prove it since we don’t have a whole lot from Vince), what we have is enough to build something of a solid case. However, that’s just me. I understand if you disagree—especially when my ultimate goal is to look for a rational explanation before jumping to the supernatural.
12. Darth Maul’s box-loving twin
His name is Darth Box. He loves boxes. Hire me, Disney; I’ll make the next great Star Wars film!
My Take
As unfathomable as it may seem, given I repeatedly lamented how confounding this story sounded, I’m adamant that Vince’s experience was the product of a hallucination brought about by stress, exhaustion, dehydration, or some combination of the three.
Allow me to go through those possibilities one by one. Vince’s difficult family life would’ve no doubt been taxing on his mental health. If that had stress built up, it would’ve probably led to him seeing something. Health Line has an article on Stress-Induced Psychosis, which is—as its name implies—Psychosis (which is a disconnect from reality) that is caused by a large amount of stress. I recommend you read it if you want to understand what Vince might’ve gone through on a deeper level.
As a side note, Stress-Induced Psychosis isn’t some novelty; it can happen to a lot of people for an array of reasons. If you or a loved one experiences it, don’t treat it lightly. Psychosis is a horrific thing. Trust me on this.
As for Vince spending hours on a trampoline, that would’ve been an arduous and draining task. If his frustrations only continued to build up, it’s possible he had a mental breakdown at some point. A part of me is curious if it’s possible for the two to have fed into each other, thus creating the Man From the Box, but I doubt it. If anyone who’s more well-versed in psychology can inform me, I would greatly appreciate it.
Additionally, as I said before, he never specified if he had any water to keep him hydrated. If he didn’t, I’m amazed he never collapsed from dehydration while outside. I think hallucinations would’ve been the least of his problems. No, I think that would go to collapsing from exhaustion; that could’ve been a serious problem.
Of course, this is merely my take; I fully understand if you guys disagree. This is one of those cases where everything is so baffling that it feels like there are multiple theories that are plausible—and there’s a chance I might’ve left one or two out because I forgot about them. So, rather than sticking with this one theory, I’ll give some well-deserved attention to another theory that I believe has something going for it: the hoax theory.
To be honest, the idea that Vince wrote the story with the sole intent to scare people is perfectly reasonable. However, my main reservation is I can’t go through Vince’s post history to see if the other times he posted it contained any inconsistencies. While he may have asserted that it was real in a DM to “acmesrv,” that could’ve easily been done to keep the illusion of its validity up.
Additionally, people write creepypastas on Reddit all the time. It’s like 4chan’s /x/ board (though other boards have their own spooky story threads, such as /k/). So, honestly, this could’ve easily been the answer despite my earlier summary coming across as nonplussed. I chalk that up to my hitting the point of burnout with this write-up; I had no idea it would surpass 16,000 words.
Ultimately, though, I have to go with the hallucination theory. To me, it’s the strongest one, and it explains the numerous quirks of this story better than any of the other ones. The hoax theory is somewhere in second place. If you asked me to pick a third one, I’d hazard a guess and say it was some kind of bizarre spirit. Hey, I don’t want to seem like I’m dismissing every Fortean story I write about! Maybe if I’m nice enough, the Fortean Forums will undo that IP ban I inexplicably have.
As for the Dhekelia Barracks, I don’t think the Man From the Box has anything to do with it. I think it’s more of a coincidence than anything else. However, I could be wrong; I didn’t exactly do a whole lot of research when I found that case, so there may be a lot that I missed or glossed over. Still, I thought it was worth acknowledging it since I brought it up as a comparison when I covered the alien theory.
On one final note, I’d like to say that if you were wondering where this story would place in terms of the weirdest mysteries I’ve ever come across, it’d definitely be in the top ten. I don’t know what spot, though, as I’ve never taken the time to rank them (let alone give such consideration to such a thing). Still, there’s an answer for anyone who was wondering!
Conclusion
This was, without a doubt, one of the strangest cases I’ve ever looked at. Never in my life did I think I’d decide to cover a story and reach the conclusion going, “Well, that was a thing.”
It’s also a case that felt like it would never end. I wrote this over the period of a week, and I began to wonder if I should put it on the back burner partway through because it felt like it would never end. Thankfully, my stubbornness prevailed, and I was able to finish it. So, God willing, you not only made it through the entire thing, but you enjoyed it; there’s little more in life that makes me happier than when people enjoy my work.
Anyway, to round things off, I’d love to know what you believe to be the truth behind Vince’s experience. Do you agree with my assessment that Vince was hallucinating? Or do you believe there was something more Fortean at play here? Leave a comment below—and as always, stay happy, stay healthy, and thank you for reading!
Oranges don't have souls? Wasn't that a South Park episode? Also insert Trump joke.
ReplyDeleteI think it's "gingers don't have souls," but I could be wrong. It's been a while since I've binged South Park. Thank you for reading! :)
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